Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Both Alex Tuch and Jason Zucker missed practice for the Buffalo Sabres on Monday, and their playing status for Tuesday's matchup with the Anaheim Ducks is in question.
Tuch was pushed backwards into the wall on Saturday against the New York Rangers, and was forced to leave the game. As for Zucker, he blocked a shot, left the game to walk it off, and then returned and finished the contest.
James Reimer also missed practice on Monday, but Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff says the goaltender had a family issue.
Buffalo has played some very good hockey lately, going 6-3-0 in their last nine games and 5-1-0 in their last six. In eight of those games, the Sabres played good games and could’ve won all eight.
The problem is, where has it gotten them?
The Sabres are still the worst team in the Eastern Conference, and are four points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for 15th place.
They have jumped up a few spots in the NHL with a points percentage of .464. That’s better than the Seattle Kraken, Nashville Predators, Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks.
I just want to interject: If you haven’t been paying attention, the Ducks are not a cake walk. They have been playing good hockey lately, and have a points percentage of .509, which is 21st in the NHL.
Since Dec. 23, the Ducks have been playing .563 hockey, which is just a shade worse than Buffalo.
So let’s rewind back to Dec. 23. That’s the day that Buffalo trounced the New York Islanders, 7-1, and snapped their 13-game winless streak, where they went 0-10-3.
Since that time, Buffalo has gone 12-8-1, which is a points percentage of .595. If you look at the standings since then, that would put the Sabres in the No. 1 Eastern Conference Wild Card spot, just behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (.600) and Toronto Maple Leafs (.609) for second and third place in the Atlantic Division.
Here is what the standings look like since Dec. 23, using points percentage:
Atlantic Division:
1.) Detroit Red Wings: .708
2.) Toronto Maple Leafs: .609
3.) Tampa Bay Lightning: .600
Metropolitan Division:
1.) Washington Capitals: .750
2.) Columbus Blue Jackers: .652
3.) New York Rangers: .563
Eastern Conference Wild Card:
7.) Buffalo Sabres: .595
8.) Carolina Hurricanes: .563
9.) New York Islanders: .545
10.) Florida Panthers: .543
11.) Montreal Canadiens: .542
12.) Ottawa Senators: .522
13.) New Jersey Devils: .500
14.) Philadelphia Flyers: .479
15.) Boston Bruins: .457
16.) Pittsburgh Penguins: .417
Buffalo leads the NHL in that time period in goals-for, averaging 3.86 goals per-game, and are ninth on the penalty kill at 81.1%.
If you remember before the losing streak started, the Sabres were 11-9-1. By points, they were in third place in the Atlantic Division. By points percentage, they were in the second wild card spot at .548.
Back to recently, if the Sabres had played .595 all season long, they’d be in the No. 1 Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. That really isn’t a hard ask, and they have shown when they play the way Ruff wants them to play, like they did Saturday against the Rangers and they have in the last nine games, they are a good hockey team.
You don’t need me to tell you this season got away in just 13 games. They fire-bombed their season, going winless in 13 games, which is just under 16% of their season.
The players and Lindy Ruff kept saying all teams go on long losing streaks, and that just isn’t the case. All teams don’t lose 13 games in-a-row.
There is a narrative that general manager Kevyn Adams never makes moves, and that is just not true. Just days before the NHL Trade Deadline last March, Adams made a very good trade, acquiring defenseman Bo Byram from the Colorado Avalanche for forward Casey Mittelstadt.
All you have to do is look at this year’s team: Adams brought in Jason Zucker, Ryan McLeod, Beck Malenstyn, Reimer, Sam Lafferty, Dennis Gilbert, Nic Aube-Kubel and they called up youngster Jiri Kulich.
If you include Byram, that’s nine new players out of 23. That’s changing 39% of your team.
Where Adams failed miserably is he sat still during the winless streak.
You could just tell by the way the team was playing then, they were begging for their general manager to do something to help them out. Adams just sat there paralyzed. There were no trades, nobody was put on waivers, nobody was called up, nobody was claimed off waivers.
He just watched his team let the whole season go down the drain.
Adams was on record saying he believes in this group, but his inexperience as a general manager cost his team a chance at the playoffs and had them out of the race by Christmas.
This team is much better at scoring goals, and have proven it by leading the league for the last 21 games. Overall, Buffalo is 10th in goal scoring, averaging 3.22 goals per-game.
However, they still need more veteran influence in their top-six. Adams made a huge mistake rushing his young core players to the NHL, and he compounded it by not having enough veterans around them.
It’s all a shame for the fans of Buffalo, because they know what this team could be capable of if it had the right mixture of players.